Would you rather?
by kazechyme
Summary: Set in season 2 - Sheppard and Weir get stuck in a transporter and play a game of 'would you rather'. Absolute fluff. Written in 2006.


A/N: Found some old stories (from 2005-6) in a notebook and decided to publish them. This is set in season 2 so I'm pretty sure the voices of the characters are different from the later seasons of the show. Plus, I was taken by surprise that I actually wrote a Shep/Weir fic. Wow, digging things up from the past is kind of scary… Anyhow, enjoy!

Original story date: 2/14/06

Would you rather…

Elizabeth stepped into the transporter and waited for the doors to close when she heard a shout from the hallway.

"Hold it!" Sheppard yelled as he dashed for the transporter.

Weir saw the doors closing and did the only thing she could – prop a hand out the door, a reflex from riding in elevators so much on Earth. Luckily, the transport doors didn't close. Sheppard made it and strided through the opening.

"Where are you heading to?" he asked casually as he looked at the map of the city.

"The control room," she replied.

He punched it in and turned around to face her as the doors finally closed.

"Thanks for that back there," he said.

Weird nodded with a smile, "May I ask colonel, why you're in such a rush?"

He scratched the bottom of hi chin, pondering if he should tell the truth or an excuse.

"I had to get something. It was urgent," he said, choosing the excuse.

Elizabeth cocked her head to the side, "I see."

They stood side by side facing the door in silence for a while. She had expected them to be at the control room by now.

"Do you think something's wrong with it?" she asked.

Sheppard looked the map, "I'll bet there is. We should have been out of here a few minutes ago."

Weir touched her earpiece, "Control, Colonel Sheppard and I are having a little trouble with one of the lifts."

One of the techs from the control room answered her, "Dr. Weir, we're experiencing some type of energy malfunction in the system. The transporters will be temporarily out of service but McKay is working it now. He said they should be fixed in a matter of minutes."

She sighed, "So all we can do is sit tight?"

"Yes ma'am."

"Alright, Weir out."

She explained the situation to Sheppard who seemed pretty calm about it.

"I thought you were in a hurry?"

"Can't do much about it. Besides, I've been in worse situations."

He sat down in one corner of the lift and Weir leaned against the opposite corner.

"How's it going?" he asked with his arms crossed, trying to start a conversation.

"At the moment, not very well. I'm trapped in a transporter while reports are piling up on my desk."

"Well, it could be worse. Would you rather be reading all those boring reports or would you rather be enjoying a chat with an interesting and charming man?"

"Honestly? I'd rather be catching up on reports that could possibly cave-in on me if I don't get back to them. Besides, I could talk to interesting and charming men any time," she replied nonchalantly, trying to hold back a mischievous grin.

Sheppard looked astonished at the response, "I was talking about one particular interesting and charming man who happens to get himself into near-death experiences all the time, in which case, said man will not always be available to you at 'any time'."

Weir unleashed her full grin this time, "Well, since said man is always getting into near-death experiences, I shouldn't worry because it's only _near_-death. If it were actual death, I think I would talk to him all the time."

"Really? I never knew you were like this. Here I am, risking my life to protect you and you won't even talk to me," he said in mock offense.

"Colonel, don't take it so personally," she said, "and I thought this was hypothetical."

"It is hypothetical."

"Okay, fine. Hypothetically speaking, would you rather be stuck in a transport by yourself or with an annoying yet charming man?"

"I see, so we're playing 'would you rather?'," Sheppard said as he stood up to meet her eye level, "First off, those two choices are the same for me. If I were alone, I'd still be with a charming man."

Weir, holding in her laughter, snorted, "Fine, don't answer the question."

"Okay, here's an easy one: would you rather die by fire or by ice?"

"Fire or ice, ice would suffice…"

Sheppard's puzzlement made her grin even more.

"Very poetic but that's not your answer, that's Frost's," he said proudly.

"Wow, you caught that? Alright, I would choose ice still. That way, I would be at least able to get my last thoughts down on paper or something. What bout you? And no going around the question – it's either fire or ice."

"Me? Like I said, it's an easy one. Fire. If I'm going down, I'm going down fighting."

"And in excruciating pain."

"That too of course!"

During their conversation, the transporter still remained unfixed contradicting McKay's estimation of a 'matter of minutes'.

"So, it's your turn," he said.

"For what?"

"To make up something for 'would you rather'."

Weir sighed for the second time that day. She couldn't make up an excuse because there wasn't one plausible enough when you were trapped in a transporter.

"Would you rather be on Earth playing football or stuck on Atlantis with no means of getting home?"

"Right now?"

"Yes, where would you rather be _right now_?"

"That's an easy one too. There's no place I'd rather be than Atlantis. Wouldn't trade it for all the touchdowns and miracle Hail Mary plays. Nope. Just right here, right now," Sheppard said as he emphasized his answer by pointing at the floor of the transporter.

Weir raised an eyebrow and Sheppard stood there with a dopey grin on his face. Just then, the doors opened to reveal the control room. McKay was probably successful in repairing the malfunction. She would confirm it with one of the techs later.

"What about you?" Sheppard asked as she was about to step out.

"I think the answer is obvious," she said, "I don't play football."

Smiling, she left to join the throng of people buzzing about the control room. The transporter doors closed and Sheppard was pondering what to do next. Everything he planned for today was done.

The End


End file.
